Section 57-1-3 - Contracts for restraint of trade or monopoly void; civil liability of participants; injunctive relief; purchasers relieved from payment.
57-1-3. Contracts for restraint of trade or monopoly void; civil liability of participants; injunctive relief; purchasers relieved from payment.
A. All contracts and agreements in violation of Section 57-1-1 or 57-1-2 NMSA 1978 shall be void, and any person threatened with injury or injured in his business or property, directly or indirectly, by a violation of Section 57-1-1 or 57-1-2 NMSA 1978 may bring an action for appropriate injunctive relief, up to threefold the damages sustained and costs and reasonable attorneys' fees. If the trier of fact finds that the facts so justify, damages may be awarded in an amount less than that requested, but not less than the damages actually sustained.
B. The attorney general may bring an action under Subsection A of this section on behalf of the state, a political subdivision thereof or any public agency.
C. In any action under this section, any defendant, as a partial or complete defense against a damage claim, may, in order to avoid duplicative liability, be entitled to prove that the plaintiff purchaser or seller in the chain of manufacture, production, or distribution who paid any overcharge or received any underpayment, passed on all or any part of such overcharge or underpayment to another purchaser or seller in such chain.
D. For the purposes of this section, "business or property" includes business or nonbusiness purchases and business and nonbusiness injuries.